On the evening that I first met Mrs. Eddy by her hospitable courtesy, I
went to her peculiarly fatigued. I came away in a state of exhilaration
and energy that made me feel I could have walked any conceivable
distance. I have met Mrs. Eddy many times since then, and always with
this experience repeated.
Several years ago Mrs. Eddy removed from Columbus to Commonwealth
avenue, where, just beyond Massachusetts avenue, at the entrance to the
Back Bay Park, she bought one of the most beautiful residences in
Boston. The interior is one of the utmost taste and luxury, and the
house is now occupied by Judge and Mrs. Hanna, who are the editors of
the _Christian Science Journal_, a monthly publication, and to whose
courtesy I am much indebted for some of the data of this paper. "It is a
pleasure to give any information for _The Inter-Ocean_," remarked Mrs.
Hanna, "for it is the great daily that is so fair and so just in its
attitude toward all questions."
The increasing demands of the public on Mrs. Eddy have been, it may be,
one factor in her removal to Concord, N.H., where she has a beautiful
residence, called Pleasant View. Her health is excellent, and although
her hair is white, she retains in a great degree her energy and power;
she takes a daily walk and drives in the afternoon. She personally
attends to a vast correspondence; superintends the church in Boston, and
is engaged on further writings on Christian Science. In every sense she
is the recognized head of the Christian Science Church. At the same time
it is her most earnest aim to eliminate the element of personality from
the faith. "On this point, Mrs. Eddy feels very strongly," said a
gentleman to me on Christmas eve, as I sat in the beautiful drawing
room, where Judge and Mrs. Hanna, Miss Elsie Lincoln, the soprano for
the choir of the new church, and one or two other friends were gathered.
"Mother feels very strongly," he continued, "the danger and the
misfortune of a church depending on any one personality. It is difficult
not to centre too closely around a highly gifted personality."